Love is an emotion; it is part of the human mind. Synonymous with affection, fondness, compassion, kindness, and endearment. The test of love lies in one's ability to identify with others. True love is based on selflessness and sacrifice. Untainted by personal interest or motive. With no thought of benefit or reward for oneself.
Attachment is the antithesis of love. However, it is taken for and accepted as love. Deeply concealed self-interest converts love into an unfavourable, inharmonious attachment. Feelings extend to another person on the grounds of being catered to and easily pleased by material gifts and physical comforts; pampered with emotional satisfaction and intellectual attunement. Love has positive effects, while attachment can only bring about sorrow and suffering. To understand why love and attachment are opposed to each other, one needs to analyse and understand factors responsible for these emotions.
Mind is the storehouse of all emotions and desires, wishes and wants, whims and fancies. Develops automatically within months after birth. Becomes a strong force guiding the personality as one attains adulthood. It has no direction or dimension; it can ask for anything, anywhere, anytime, for no reason. We are gifted at birth with the capacity to think, understand, know, judge and decide. Unlike the mind, intellect needs to be developed and strengthened with knowledge and application. The philosophy of Vedanta presents eternal principles that govern human life. Understanding and imbibing these higher values strengthens the human intellect.
Mind can be compared to the flow of water in a river. The intellect to its banks. When the banks are strong, waters are directed to cultivate and nourish the fields around. When weak, same waters can devastate fields and destroy the produce. Love, like any other emotion of the mind, needs to be governed and directed by a well-developed intellect. Uncontrolled emotions turn self-centred. Bring about negative effects in a relationship. Make one act in destructive ways. The Bhagwad Gita, chapter VI, verse 34, describes an ungoverned mind as restless, turbulent, strong and obstinate.
Love guided by an intellect established in higher values is humane, chaste, and all-encompassing. When the same emotion is vitiated by selfishness and lack of intellectual application, it becomes attachment. Love is a virtue supported by thoughtfulness and clarity of intellect. Attachment is an intense flood of emotions based on extreme impulse. An equation given by my father and guru, A Parthasarathy, states the difference: love + selfishness = attachment, attachment - selfishness = love.
When emotions are indiscriminate, one loses mental balance and cannot function effectively. Misplacing positive emotions leads to trouble, even destruction. Emotions directed by the intellect for a higher purpose are disciplined, regulated and gain strength. The power of love lies in its purity. Guided by an intellect that is established in higher values presented in the universal philosophy of Vedanta.
Authored by: Sunandaji
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